
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. It’s an opportunity to talk about doubts and fears you have conquered. To discuss your struggles and triumphs and to offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling.
July 6 question – If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose?
What an interesting question! I’ve sat at my desk ever since reading it, going on a mental journey through those books I love, and those whose worlds I’ve returned to over & over again.
I read a lot of works by Commonwealth authors – stories based in India and West Africa where I spent my childhood. The Harry Potter books get re-read (or re-listened to, as one of the few fiction audible adaptations I love is Stephen Fry reading these familiar tales). Jodi Taylor’s St Mary’s series are a fun romp where they all live together as if in some form of grown-up boarding school. Both are based in a boarding school type environment which is yet another experience I’ve lived. I read a small number of science fiction and fantasy and I enjoy the reading experience and find the world building quite amazing. But none of these are the book world I’d choose.
My choice would be London – current day London. I love our capital city and, although I spent a few years living in London in my early 20s, there was so much I missed out on – live music and theatre, more glorious parks than you can shake a stick at, a wide-range of neighbourhoods filled with cultural experiences a-plenty, the tourist sights, the places at the end of the tube lines, even the outlying districts where you have to catch a train and yet it’s not the suburbs. I can never have too much of the river and, now a photographer, I’d love to walk the streets with my camera and snap, snap, snap away. If I could afford to, I’d live in London again in a heartbeat.
As a result, I enjoy reading the Cormoran Strike books of Robert Galbraith (or J K Rowling as he’s better known) because Strike’s offices are right in the heart of Soho, and the majority of the action takes place in central London. I also love Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series because London – the city itself – is as central a character as the protagonist, Peter Grant. There are many other books based in London which I’ve enjoyed, but I choose these for their feel of current day London, which is primarily what draws me back whenever a new one is in the series is released.
Did you choose a fantasy, historical or contemporary world – I’m looking forward to finding out!
The awesome co-hosts are J Lenni Dorner, Janet Alcorn, PJ Colando, Jenni Enzor, and Diane Burton – do take a moment to visit them.
© Debra Carey, 2022